Here, we get what might seem like an upbeat, funny scene, with The Standard humiliating blowhard TV Man and sharing a message about the true meaning of supeheroes. But our end focus on Fabu-Lad’s clenched fist makes us leave the scene on a more troubling note, calling into question the positivity of the parting message. Could it be that The Standard’s words sting young Fabu-Lad because, even at that age, his vision for being a superhero was not so pure as Gilbert’s? You could suggest that much of the celebrity lifestyle of Alex Thomas’s Standard was driven by a need to be loved, and so it could be argued that one of his main driving factors for being a superhero, even as Fabu-Lad, was a desire for adulation and approval. And so The Standard stating that’s wrong here could be rubbing him the wrong way.
We also have Kel nailing another wonderful sound effect there in the first panel.
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